The present invention relates to preformed wrapping of articles, and more particularly, to a preformed gift wrapper which can be readily utilized to wrap boxes and like articles containing gifts or the like with a minimum of effort, skill and waste, and in minimum amount of time.
To avoid the laborious and relatively costly task of wrapping gifts by first measuring and tearing an adequate amount of decorative paper from a roll, placing it around a box to be wrapped, and securing it by means of a ribbon or adhesive tape, various prefabricated gift wrappers have been devised. Beside the above advantages, the use of such preformed wrappers permit the ordering by stores of standard sizes for standard sized boxes, resulting in more efficient stockable inventory control. Also long lines of people waiting in department stores for packages to be gift wrapped, especially at holiday times, can be considerably reduced, which results in more efficiency and thus more sales. Also a more perfectly wrapped gift will be obtained, even by unskilled people.
One such gift wrapper is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,658,240 issued Apr. 25, 1972. This gift wrapper comprises a paper sleeve movable from a flattened condition to an operational shape having two ends open to receive a box and cardboard reinforcements in the corners of each end which are situated beyond the box ends when the box is placed midway in the sleeve. To close the wrapper, the reinforcements are folded against the ends of the box. The sleeve is also made such that two ends of the paper are adhered to each other forming a seam substantially in the middle of the top wall of the sleeve. Thus a major drawback of this construction is that there is no protection of the sides of the box when wrapped, and also an imperfect support for the sleeve in its operational shape. More particularly, there is substantially no guidance for the box when it is inserted into the sleeve. As a consequence, the box can be skewed when being slipped into the sleeve, distorting the latter, and causing the seam to tear or come apart, destroying the wrapper.